Nottingham's 2026 population is now estimated at 335,171. In 2025, the population of Nottingham was 333,118. Nottingham has grown by 2,053 in the last year, which represents a 0.62% annual change. These population values and projections come from World Population Review Internal Projections .
Nottingham is a city in the East Midlands of England, located in the United Kingdom. It is also the County town of the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire. Famous for being the home of heroic outlaw Robin Hood, Nottingham has a history going back to 600 AD. In 2014, Nottingham has an estimated population of 306,000.
Nottingham has a very small official city boundary, hence the small population of just 306,000. The wider Nottingham Urban Area, however, has a population estimated at 733,000, which makes it the 9th largest urban area in the United Kingdom. The population density of the city proper is 4,073 people per square kilometer, or 10,550 per square kilometer. The total surface area in the city proper comes to 28.81 square miles (74.61 kilometers squared).
Nottingham is also a major tourist destination, with the sixth highest tourism spending in all of England.
The 2011 census found the ethnic breakdown of Nottingham was:
In 2005, it was found that 23% of Nottingham’s population belonged to a Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) group, down to 19% in 2001. This percentage is predicted to rise to at least 25% by 2016 and account for at least 33% of all children in the city. In 2010, 30% of all births were to mothers born outside of the United Kingdom. Almost 34% of the population is not White British, according to the most recent census in 2011. Nottingham has a higher-than-average mixed race community than the country as a whole, with 6% of people being ethnically mixed, with 4% mixed white and black Caribbean.
Along with established BME groups, Nottingham is home to many migrant, refugee and asylum seeker populations. Most immigrants to the city come from EU Accession States, Asia and the Middle East. About 15% of the population has been in the United Kingdom since 1991 or sooner.
The population of Nottingham is fairly young, with 28% of the population between 18 and 29, compared to 16% nationally. 31% are 45 years old or older, compared with 42% nationally. This is most likely due to the fact that Nottingham has two major universities with about 60,000 students.
According to the last demographic census, 75% of the population of Nottingham consider themselves Christian, with other religions including Islam (0.5%), Sikh (0.3%), Hindu (0.3%), Jewish (0.1%) and Buddhist (0.2%). One-third stated they have no religion and almost 8% did not answer, which is the highest rate in the region.
The earliest known population of Nottingham was around 35 people in the 4th century, which grew slowly to 1,500 people by the 11th century. Between the end of the 17th century to the start of the 19th century, Nottingham grew from 5,000 to almost 30,000 people. The city broke 100,000 sometime in the 1870s, then 200,000 in the 1880s. Nottingham peaked at 312,000 in 1961 before its population began a decades-long decline.
The 2011 census found the population of Nottingham increased almost 14% from the previous census, growing from 269,000 in 2001 to 306,000. This is one of the biggest increases in the East Midlands. This is attributed to rising birth rates, immigration and an increasing number of students.
| City | 2026 Pop. ↓ | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| London | 9,188,200 | 0.54% |
| Birmingham | 1,199,447 | 0.67% |
| Leeds | 860,894 | 0.92% |
| Glasgow | 663,221 | 0.99% |
| Manchester | 605,521 | 1.34% |
| Cornwall | 591,594 | 0.71% |
| Sheffield | 588,768 | 0.54% |
| Bradford | 570,186 | 0.58% |
| County Durham | 543,515 | 0.51% |
| Edinburgh | 540,101 | 0.88% |
| Wiltshire | 531,890 | 0.78% |
| Liverpool | 518,060 | 0.89% |
| Bristol | 504,401 | 1.01% |
| Kirklees | 451,654 | 0.42% |
| Cheshire East | 431,445 | 1.2% |
| Croydon | 415,854 | 0.79% |
| Barnet | 411,361 | 0.78% |
| Leicester | 397,462 | 1.17% |
| Ealing | 392,217 | 0.8% |
| Cardiff | 391,495 | 0.98% |